Mt Silver
by Snailicorn
Summary: Gold has just become champion, but finds that he feel empty, as no one can really give him a challenging battle anymore. However, on top of Mt. Silver, he meets a mysterious, powerful trainer...


_Just thought I'd do a fic sort of based on that encounter the player has with Red at the end of GSC/HGSS. I'm sure there are a bunch of other fics using that scene as a starting point, but I figured I would give my own interpretation of how things could have gone. _

: )

**000000000000000**

It was the worst defeat Gold had ever suffered. Even the frustration he felt at the beginning of his journey when he lost gym battles, lost to that jerk Silver… None of that compared to the thrashing he had just received from this strange, silent boy. And he had never been so thrilled in his life.

**oooo**

Gold had been the champion for about a week. Over the past few days, he had started to realize that holding the title was a bit different than he thought it would be. He remembered thinking, as he fought through the Elite Four, that when he won- not if, _when- _he would finally get the attention someone of his skill deserved. In a way, he supposed, he had been right. There had been a single reporter allowed into the Hall of Fame to ask him questions, which he answered as coherently as he was able to in his exhaustion, but when he collected his pokemon in their pokeballs and made his way out of the building after the longest day of his life, he found himself in the middle of a swarm of trainers, reporters, and various other people, with bright lights flashing in his face, blinding him. It was all he could do to give a brief smile and push through the crowd as quickly as possible.

Things didn't get any easier after that. No matter where he went, Gold was constantly being followed and challenged at the worst possible moments, by crazy trainers with low-level pokemon who had too much faith in their few skills. They would harass him nonstop and, as champion, he had to accept their "requests" and battle.

As he made his way through the Kanto region with his companions, he started to see fewer cities and more towns, then fewer towns and more forests- and with the change in scenery came fewer and fewer challenges, and for the first time since his victory a week previously, he was finally able to relax and think. When Gold reached Pallet Town, the home of the world-renown pokemon expert Professor Oak, he found himself wondering, _What now? What is there left for me to do now? _

Gold decided to let his pokemon out for a while, telling them that it was because he felt they needed some time to stretch when in reality he wanted to see if he could detect the same emptiness inside them that he felt in himself. He hopped up onto a wooden fence and leaned back, staring up at the sky and noticing for the first time the intimidating mountain range in the distance.

"What's a pokemon champion doing with such a hopeless look on his face?" A voice suddenly asked. Gold was startled from his trance and had to quickly grasp the fence beneath him to keep himself from toppling over. The old man next to him laughed.

He saw the face of Professor Oak, who he recognized from TV, but had never seen in person. Suddenly he felt stupid for not thinking he could run into the famous professor in the man's own hometown. For once remembering his manners, he jumped down from his perch and nervously extended his hand.

"Ah- Hi, it's really cool to meet you. My name's-"

"Gold. I know," Oak said, cheerfully taking his hand and giving it a rough shake, "Of course I would know the name of the new champion!"

Gold didn't say anything. Professor Oak sighed and leaned against the fence, so Gold did the same thing. The two of them gazed up, not looking at anything in particular. After a long moment of silence, Gold allowed his stare to return to his pokemon, play-battling in the field before them and smiled. Was it possible that they were the same playful, innocent creatures they had been when he met them, while he himself had changed so much?

Suddenly, Oak spoke. "I know how you're feeling." Gold turned to look at him, but the professor was still staring at something in the distance. "I once felt just the way that you do now. And I'm going to tell you something."

"Um, what?"

Oak pointed to the towering mountain in the distance. "That's Mount Silver out there. No one's allowed in there unless they've proven themselves and their pokemon to be strong enough and gained permission from the league." He glanced at Gold out of the corner of his eye and said something that would change the young trainer's life: "Why don't you check it out?"

Gold made eye contact with him for a moment, then turned his attention back to the mountain. All of a sudden, it wasn't a piece of the background- it was a huge intimidating, towering, beast that loomed over him. He felt a familiar fear and excitement as his heart began to beat faster and faster, and a broad grin swept across his face. "We'll do it!"

His pokemon looked back at him as if to ask, "what exactly have you just signed us up to do?" Still, they came to him with their curious, questioning faces, and he rapidly explained where they were going and returned them to their pokeballs before their minds had a chance to fully register what he had said to them. He grabbed his backpack from the ground and pulled it over his shoulders, then turned towards Professor Oak.

The older man was already slowly meandering away, but he stopped in place as soon as he felt Gold's eyes on him. Turning toward Gold, he smiled softly. "If you run into a trainer there, challenge him to a battle. I promise you won't be disappointed."

With that, the old man laughed and shook his head, then continued back towards his lab in Pallet Town. Gold watched him go, tilting his head to the side as he often did when he was confused, and considered Oak's words. A new excitement flowing through his veins and his pulse pounding, he started off at a run toward the mountain in the distance.

**oooo **

When he entered Mt. Silver, Gold wondered if he had been placed under a spell. He saw the most incredible pokemon at strengths he had no idea they could achieve in the wild, with no trainer. Again and again, he was entranced by the battles. He felt the way he did when he first began his journey, but more powerful and with more knowledge of the world. He took on every single pokemon he saw and just enjoyed the thrill and the connection he felt with his pokemon- his friends. He realized he hadn't felt this close to them in a long time.

Upward and onward, Gold and his pokemon climbed, compelled by some mysterious force to reach the top of the mountain. When he finally reached the peak, any breath left in his body left him as he saw another trainer, standing alone on the opposite edge of the narrow platform that was the top of Mt. Silver. The other trainer was facing away from him, peering out over the Kanto region. Part of Gold was frozen in something similar to fear, but a larger part of him knew what had to happen. He hadn't seen another human being since he left Pallet several hours ago- this could only be the trainer Professor Oak had mentioned.

Breathing deeply, trying to catch his breath at what felt like the very top of the Earth, Gold inhaled several times before he could speak. "Hey!" he called, feebly at first, then with a bit more power behind his voice. "_Hey!"_

The other trainer slowly turned to face him, and Gold tried to get a look at him. He had piercing crimson eyes and a completely expressionless face. For just a second, Gold wondered if he shouldn't have just left him as he was. But, he reminded himself, he was the _champion. _It was only natural that he would take on any trainer he could. It was a compulsion he simply could not ignore. "You wanna battle?"

The trainer did not seem to share his enthusiasm and Gold wondered if the other would refuse the battle. Silently, the older boy took several steps, until he was about 50 feet from Gold.

Without warning and with speed Gold had never seen before, the mysterious trainer threw a pokeball and released a Charizard.

Gold quickly shook off his alarm and sent out his Feraligatr. It was the most powerful pokemon he had, and it was the first he'd ever been able to call his, back when he selected it as a Totodile. They were an immensely powerful team, and his pokemon had a type advantage over his foe's Charizard. There was no way in Gold's mind that they could lose.

And yet, that was exactly what happened.

It was a struggle, but Gold and his faithful companions managed to take down the Charizard. Unfortunately, his luck ran out there. He used every last potion he had left, having spent only a few between the battles he had with the wild pokemon on his way to the top of the mountain, but even that was not enough. One by one, the trainer defeated Gold's pokemon with an extremely powerful Pikachu. It was only the second pokemon the other trainer had shown Gold, as he had sent it out when Gold's team had brought down the Charizard. Gold never saw any of the trainer's other pokemon- the Pikachu alone finished off his entire team.

Gold had never suffered such a terrible loss; he had not even lost a single match since he became champion! Still, there he was, kneeling next to his semi-conscious Togetic, fumbling around in his backpack searching for a potion he knew he didn't have. He tried desperately not to make eye contact with the mysterious trainer. By this point, he was so thoroughly shocked and frightened that he was certain the other trainer was not a human, but some supernatural being.

The thing that disturbed Gold most about the battle, was the other trainer's completely silence. While Gold had shouted commands to his pokemon, had given them verbal praise, had allowed his frustration to show on his face- the other trainer had stared blankly ahead, his red eyes shining brightly through the flurries of snow that had started to fall. He had never once made a noise or said a word to his pokemon. The trainer had made a few minor physical gestures, but otherwise did not appear to communicate with his pokemon at all.

But somehow, they had known exactly what their trainer wanted them to do.

Panicking now as he realized he had no way to heal his pokemon and no way to leave the mountain safely (and . . . which way was out again?), Gold realized he was at the mercy of his terrifying foe. The trainer was slowly approaching him from the other side and even in his terror, Gold saw his face more clearly and realized he recognized it.

Memories came flooding into his mind with every step the trainer took. He recalled seeing those startling red eyes on TV a few years ago. He had watched the trainer leave the Indigo Plateau, being ambushed by reporters and people claiming to be his fan even though no one had knew who he was just a few hours before- Gold remembered the same scene he had endured a week ago, but with this trainer as the champion. He remembered one reporter, the one allowed by the league to interview the champion (she had aged quite a bit since then), dragging the camera man along behind her as she started to question the boy. And he had not said a single word, just smiled faintly and walked past her.

Gold recalled watching the older boy on television and thinking, _He's so cool! I'm going to be like him when I get older! I'll be a champion like him! _As the memories flowed back into his mind, he wondered how he could have possibly forgotten something that changed him so deeply. At the same time, he couldn't help but wonder why the trainer seemed so different now, his red eyes frightening and his face blank instead of the mischievous smile he had worn on television years ago. As Gold continued to search in vain for a potion in his bag, distracted by his thoughts, he saw a worn pair of shoes appear in front of him. Frozen half in fear and half from the cold that he was feeling now for the first time since reaching the peak of the mountain, Gold barely managed to force his head to tilt up, slowly scanning over the trainer's body and meeting his terrifying, blood-colored eyes. The older trainer peered down at him for a second, then lowered himself to his knee, leveling himself with Gold. Gold was certain his heart stopped.

The trainer removed his backpack from his shoulders and placed in on the ground. The mysterious boy reached into his bag, pulled out a Full Restore, and handed it to Gold. Gold blinked in surprise, then cautiously took the bottle from his hand.

The intimidating trainer, who had frightened Gold so terribly with his silence and lack of expression, reached down and gently pet Gold's Togetic's head.

**000000000000000**

_What do you think? This was just something I thought up when I was listening to the many awesome remixes people have made of the music that plays when you battle in in Gen 2 & 4. I've got a possible second chapter in my head that I think I'll type up, but after that, who knows? _


End file.
